Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
If you're building a slide show on a light background, or on a photo background,
you can add a drop shadow behind your image to help it stand out from the
background. You also have the option of adding a stroke to your images.
While most of the built-in templates already have these features turned on,
here we'll look at how to add them and how to make adjustments to both.
Step One:
To add a drop shadow, go the Options panel
in the right side Panels area, and turn on the
Cast Shadow checkbox. Most of the built-in
templates, like Caption and Rating (shown
here), already have the drop shadow feature
turned on. The two controls you're probably
going to use the most are Opacity (how
dark your drop shadow appears), and Radius
(which controls how soft your drop shadow
is. So why don't they just call it “Softness?”
That's because then it would be too obvious
and easy [wink]). The Offset setting controls
how far the shadow appears from the photo,
so if you want it to look like your photo
is higher off the background, increase the
Offset amount. The Angle setting deter-
mines where the light is coming from, and
by default, it positions your shadow down
and to the right.
Step Two:
Let's tweak the drop shadow a bit: lower the
Opacity amount to 18%, so it's lighter, then
increase the Offset amount to 100%, so it
looks like the photo is an inch or two off
the background. Next, lower the Radius to
amount 48%, so it's not quite as soft, and
lastly set the Radius to -41°, just to tweak its
position a bit. Turning on the Stroke Border
checkbox (at the top of the Options panel)
puts a color stroke around your image.
In this built-in template (and a couple of
the others), the stroke is already on, but
it's white and only 1-pixel thick, so you can
hardly see it. To change the color, click on
the color swatch, then choose a new color
from the color picker (I chose black here).
To make the stroke thicker, drag the Width
slider to the right (I dragged mine to 12 px).
